Biomedical scientist

Description

The specific activities of the biomedical scientist can differ in various parts of the world and vary with the level of education. Generally speaking, biomedical scientists conduct research in a laboratory setting, using living organisms as models to conduct experiments. These can include cultured human or animal cells grown outside of the whole organism, small animals such as flies, worms, fish, mice, and rats, or, rarely, larger animals and primates. Biomedical scientists may also work directly with human tissue specimens to perform experiments as well as participate in clinical research.

Biomedical scientists employ a variety of techniques in order to carry out laboratory experiments. These include:

• Molecular and biochemical techniques
  • Electrophoresis and blotting
  • Immunostaining
  • Chromatography
  • Mass spectrometry
  • PCR and sequencing
  • Microarrays
• Imaging technologies
  • Light, fluorescence, and electron microscopy
  • MRI
  • PET
  • X-ray
• Genetic engineering/modification
  • Transfection
  • Viral transduction
  • Transgenic model organisms
• Electrophysiology techniques
  • Patch clamp
  • EEG, EKG, ERG
• In silico techniques
  • Bioinformatics
  • Computational biology

Level of education

Biomedical scientists typically obtain a bachelor of science degree, and usually take postgraduate studies leading to a diploma, master or doctorate. This degree is necessary for faculty positions at academic institutions, as well as senior scientist positions at most companies. Some biomedical scientists also possess a medical degree (MD, DO, PharmD, Doctor of Medical Laboratory Sciences[MLSD], MBBS, etc.) in addition to an academic degree.

Work environment

Academics

This category includes tenured faculty positions at universities, colleges, non-profit research institutes, and sometimes hospitals. These positions usually afford more intellectual freedom and give the researcher more latitude in the direction and content of the research. Scientists in academic settings, in addition to conducting experiments, will also attend scientific conferences, compete for research grant funding, publish scientific papers, and teach classes.

Industry

Industry jobs refer to private sector jobs at for-profit corporations. In the case of biomedical scientists, employment is usually at large pharmaceutical companies or biotechnology companies. Positions in industry tend to pay higher salaries than those at academic institutions, but job security compared to tenured academic faculty is significantly less. Researchers in industry tend to have less intellectual freedom in their research than those in the academic sector, owing to the ultimate goal of producing marketable products that benefit the company.

Non-traditional career paths

In recent years, more biomedical scientists have pursued careers where advanced education and experience in biomedical research is needed outside of traditional laboratory research. These areas include patent law, consulting, public policy, and science journalism. The primary reason for growth in these areas is that in recent years fewer positions are available in traditional academic research relative to the number of seekers; approximately 15-20% of PhD life scientists will obtain a tenure-track position or lab-head position in industry.

United Kingdom

Biomedical Sciences, as defined by the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Benchmark Statement in 2015 includes those science disciplines whose primary focus is the biology of human health and disease and ranges from the generic study of biomedical sciences and human biology to more specialised subject areas such as pharmacology, human physiology and human nutrition. It is underpinned by relevant basic sciences including anatomy and physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics and molecular biology, immunology, mathematics and statistics, and bioinformatics.

"Biomedical scientist" is the protected title used by professionals qualified to work unsupervised within the pathology department of a hospital. The biomedical sciences are made up of the following disciplines; biochemistry, haematology, immunology, microbiology, histology, cytology, and transfusion services. These professions are regulated within the United Kingdom by the Health and Care Professions Council. Anyone who falsely claims to be a biomedical scientist commits an offence and could be fined up to £5000.

Each department specialises in aiding the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Entry to the profession requires an Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) accredited BSc honours degree followed by a minimum of 12 months laboratory training in one of the pathology disciplines, however the actual time spent training can be considerably longer. Trainees are also required to complete a certificate of competence training portfolio, this requires gathering extensive amounts of evidence to demonstrate professional competence. At the end of this period the trainees portfolio and overall competence are assessed; if successful, a certificate of competence is awarded, which can be used to apply for registration with the HCPC. State registration indicates that the applicant has reached a required standard of education and will follow the guidelines and codes of practice created by the Health and Care Professions Council. The NHS, the largest employer of Biomedical Scientist, now run the 'Practitioners Training Program' in conjunction with several Universities which includes a years experienced as a part of a 3-year degree. This is known as BSc Healthcare Science (Life Science) Biomedical Scientists are the second largest profession registered by the Health and Care Professions Council and make up a vital component of the health care team. Many of the decisions doctors make are based on the test results generated by Biomedical Scientists. Despite this, much of the general public are unaware of Biomedical Scientists and the important role they play.

Biomedical Scientists are not confined to NHS laboratories. Biomedical Scientists along with scientists in other inter-related medical disciplines seek out to understand human anatomy, genetics, immunology, physiology and behaviour at all levels. This is sometimes achieved through the use of model systems that are homologous to various aspects of human biology. The research that is carried out either in Universities or Pharmaceutical companies by Biomedical Scientists has led to the development of new treatments for a wide range of degenerative and genetic disorders. Stem cell biology, cloning, genetic screening/therapies and other areas of biomedical science have all been generated by the work of Biomedical Scientists from around the world.